In 1888, a fast and ambitious ice yacht named Rocket was built to race on the frozen reaches of the Navesink River at Red Bank, New Jersey. At a time when ice boating was one of winter’s great spectator sports, Rocket represented the peak of late 19th-century ice yacht design.
Rocket, a 50-foot-long ice yacht weighing 2,500 pounds, with a 38-foot mast carrying 2 sails, a traditional gaff-rigged main sail, and a jib that needs 10 to 12 inches of “hard water” to sail. Long, narrow, and built for speed, she carried a tall rig and a distinctive trussed runner plank that let her skim across hard ice with remarkable stability and pace. She sailed during the golden era of organized ice boating on the Navesink. She became closely associated with the local racing community that would become the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club.
Long before Rocket ever appeared, organized ice boating was already taking root on the Navesink River. In 1856, George Allaire, George Whiting, and Nathan Cook sailed the first experimental ice boats at Red Bank, testing different runner layouts and sail rigs. Their work helped establish the 3-runner configuration, which has become the standard and is still used today. That early experimentation laid the foundation for the highly refined racing yachts that followed later in the 1800s, including Rocket.
In 1880, Dr. Edwin Field and a group of Red Bank sailors formally organized the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club on the south bank of the river. From its earliest years, the club became a center for advanced ice yacht design and high-level competition, and it is within this culture of innovation and serious racing that Rocket would later be sailed and ultimately preserved.
The excitement surrounding ice boating on the Navesink during Rocket’s active years reached far beyond the local waterfront. From 1900 through 1903, Thomas Edison came to Red Bank on several occasions to film ice boats racing on the frozen river. Those short silent motion pictures captured both the boats themselves and the crowds who gathered to watch, confirming how prominent and widely admired ice yachting had become during Rocket’s era.
Before Rocket ever became a club icon, the Class One Stern Steer-er belonged to a very small, elite circle of private ice-yacht owners on the lower Navesink. The earliest documented ownership places Rocket in the hands of Captain George Coley and his family of the Red Bank and Navesink area, certainly in 1904 and 1905, when there were multiple newspaper accounts. Contemporary local accounts and later club histories consistently describe the yacht as a privately owned and actively campaigned racer during her prime years in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although some retellings attempt to name a specific individual as her original patron, the reliable historical record identifies Rocket as a Coley family yacht that remained in the family’s care until she passed into the club’s custody.
Rocket Falls From Grace
By the early 1920s, large ice yachts like Rocket were slowly disappearing from regular competition. Winters were becoming less reliable, fleets were shrinking, and recreational priorities were changing. Rocket was removed from the ice and placed in storage by the club, and in 1924, she was formally donated by the Coley family to the organization after years of private ownership and care. From that point forward, time became Rocket’s greatest enemy. Stored for decades and subjected to moisture, temperature swings, and long-term neglect, much of her structure had deteriorated. Only a small number of major original components clearly survived, most notably the cockpit structure and the distinctive trussed runner plank. By the late 20th century, Rocket had become a fragile collection of historic parts rather than a working ice yacht.
Restoration & Rebirth
In 1998, club members made a decision that would change Rocket’s future. Instead of preserving what remained as a static artifact, they committed to restoring her to functioning as an ice yacht. The effort became a long, volunteer-driven project led by John Holian, whose persistence and leadership kept the work moving forward year after year. Technical construction and boatbuilding leadership was provided by Bob Pulsch, with major finishing and rigging direction by Mark Petersen.
Remnants of the boat were found under the club’s building in Red Bank in 1999. The cockpit and runners are original, but much of the rest of the boat had to be built new. The club members worked on plans drawn by Bob Pulsch, who used old photos as a guide.
Henry Bossett of North Sails in Manasquan made the new Dacron sails, totaling 850 square feet.
For ten years, working around the few surviving original components, the team relied on period photographs, traditional building methods, and modern structural understanding to recreate what had been lost.
Rocket Relaunch
When Rocket finally returned to the ice, it was far more than a test sail. Her restored maiden voyage took place on March 1, 2014, on the frozen Navesink off Red Bank in the traditional sailing area long used by the club. As her sail filled and the runners began to sing, Rocket once again accelerated cleanly across the river, moving with the same purpose and grace that had defined her more than a century earlier. For the volunteers who had spent years rebuilding her, the moment marked the return of a living vessel, not a museum object.
Today, Rocket can be seen at the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club, where it is preserved and interpreted as one of the most important surviving large ice yachts in New Jersey. Her restoration also stands as part of the club’s broader tradition of preservation.
Other historic iceboats, including Jack Frost and additional locally significant yachts, have been saved and restored by members who recognize that the Navesink’s winter racing heritage is just as important as its summer sailing History. Together, these restorations ensure that the story of ice boating on the river remains visible, active, and alive for future generations.
Rocket Photo Gallery
Rocket Ice Yacht Video Collection
Video Collection – Click a Video Below
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About the Author
Brooks Betz is a researcher and writer for Mr. Local History and the New Jersey History Project, focused on uncovering overlooked stories, places, and people that have shaped New Jersey and American life. His work draws on archival newspapers, maps, photographs, and firsthand accounts to turn forgotten details into clear, engaging History. His approach is best described as History With a Social Twist, grounded in personal references and firsthand knowledge gained through years of research, interviews, and on-site exploration.
The only thing I remember more is the people I met along the way. It’s been years since I thought about them all, and now I’m inspired to rekindle some of those friends, memories, and hopefully make a few new ones. Mr. Local History & Gambit Iceboat DN Painting – Mr. Local History (aka Brooks Betz, Basking Ridge, New Jersey). I can be reached at brooksatmrlocalhistory.org. “Be Safe and Sail Fast.”
